Professor JeraldJellison of the University of Southern Californiahas made a scientific study of lying. According to him,women are better liarsthan men,particularly when

telling a"whitelie", such as when a woman at a party tells another woman that she likesher dress when she really thinks it looks awful.However,this is only one sideof the

story. Otherresearchers say that men are more likely to tell more serious lies,such asmaking a promise which they have no intention of fulfilling. This is the kindof lie

politicians andbusinessmen are supposed to be particularly skilled at the lie from which theliar hopes to profit or gain in some way.

Research has alsobeen done into the way people's behavior changes in a number ofsmall,apparently unimportant ways when they lie.It has been found that if theyare sitting

down at the time,they tend to move about in their chairs more than usual.To the trainedobserver,they are saying,"I wish I were somewhere else now."They alsotend to touch

certain parts of theface more often,in particular the nose.One explanation of this may be that lyingcauses a slight increase in blood pressure.The tip of the nose is very

sensitive to suchchanges and the increased pressure makes it itch.

Another gesturewhich gives liars away is what the writer Desmond Morris in hisbook"Man-watching"calls"the mouth cover".He says there areseveral typical forms of

this,such ascovering part of the mouth with the fingers,touching the upper-lip or putting afinger of the hand at one side of the mouth.Such a gesture can be interpretedas all

unconscious attemptson the part of the liar to stop himself or herself from lying. Of course,suchgestures as rubbing the nose or covering the mouth,or squirming about in a

chair cannot betaken as proof that the speaker is lying. They simply tend to occur morefrequently in this situation.It is not one gesture alone that gives the liaraway but a

 

whole number ofthings,and in particular the context in which the lie is told.Research on lyingsuggests that women__________.

A.are more skilledat telling less serious lies than men

B.tell more liesthan men

C. tend to flatterpeople more often than men do

D.are better attelling lies at parties than men do